The Lazy Man's Way To Riches

And so begins the saga of Joe Karbo; perhaps the greatest marketer and copywriter in history.

He was born in Los Angeles, the son of Polish parents who owned and operated a tailor shop. He attended Manual Arts High school in Los Angeles, California and served in the U S Navy in the South Pacific during World War II as a medic and pharmacist.

After the war, Joe established a wholesale paper business, which he sold in 1950 to take acting classes at Pasadena Playhouse. He later went on to play bit parts in movies, radio and television shows.

Joe also appeared in many television commercials and for a time was the television spokesman for a Maywood, California car dealer. Both the dealer and Joe became famous and Rich because of Joe's low-key, common sense, and refreshingly honest approach to selling cars on television.

TV Star and Innovator

From 1961 to 1963 he and his wife, Betty, co-hosted "The All-Night Show" in Los Angeles on KTTV, Channel 11.

Joe thought it was a waste that TV stations went off the air from midnight until 6 AM in those days, so he bought that six hour block of time... and he and Betty played movies all night on TV. They also interviewed guests (Sammy Davis, Jr., Dinah Shore, Frank Sinatra, and countless others). Their show was the first all-night show in the US.

Joe knew there was an audience up all night made up of swing shift workers, hospital workers, and city workers, (policemen, firefighters) who would watch TV ...if there were something good to watch. He was right.

He sold his own late-night advertising time... but few advertisers believed the late-night audience was worthwhile... so Joe promoted his own products and wrote his own advertising copy. He quickly became Rich from his own all - night TV show. The station would not re-negotiate his contract because they wanted to do all-night TV and earn all that revenue that Joe was earning.

When Joe and Betty's show was basically forced off the air, Joe was left with lots of product and no way to sell it... and he had massive debts from the purchase of the inventory.

How To Feed A Family Of 10 With No Job And Massive Debts

Facing certain bankruptcy when he lost his $50,000 a week income... he went to several attorneys to find out how to avoid a bankruptcy. He learned how to negotiate with his creditors... and in the process wrote a book entitled, The Power of Money Management, which he sold by direct response ads in local newspapers and magazines in the Southern California area. The book was an overnight sensation and Joe avoided bankruptcy.

Joe then decided to sell the inventory of various products he had left over from the TV show that had been taken away from him. He wrote ads for all those various products and placed the ads ....direct response ads...in local newspapers ...and found out he could sell almost anything by way of direct response ads.

Joe sold Glow in the Dark Christmas ornaments with one of the best ads ever written. One of his headlines was "The Fun Begins When The Lights Go Out."

Joe had taken several hundred door viewers in place of cash from a man who owed him money. You know, the kind of door viewer in hotel room doors.

He sold his inventory of door viewers with an ad that he wound up running for years...selling hundreds of thousands of door viewers in the process with an ad that started, See Through Walls, Fences and Locked Doors.

Joe Helping Others

Joe wrote many other books and pamphlets. He wrote ads for products for others... taking a percentage of the profits instead of a fee for the ads. Joe became Richer because of direct response advertising (what would today be online marketing).

After he became rich enough and retired (well, just a little retired) he decided to try something different.

He started helping many other people write ads and sell their products. What he noticed then bothered him...they weren't equipped to handle success.

The book that changed the world of advertising and changed millions of people in the process

So he wanted to write a book to help others do what he had done but he decided to write two books in one. The first part would be on how to prepare yourself for success...how to become the person who could be a success. How to cultivate a positive mental attitude; How to set goals; How to achieve your goal; How to become a better person; a person that others would want to do business with.

The second part would deal with Joes favorite subject in the whole world...the selling of goods and services by direct response ads. He referred to it as Money in your mailbox. In it he revealed all the secrets that had made him and so many others so rich.

Now, This Is Interesting

He wrote the ad for the book before he actually wrote the book.

He wrote the ad and ran a single test ad to see if there was an audience and a market for the book. (Today this is illegal. You can't advertise something for sale you don't even have). The response overwhelmed him. The demand was huge. And Joe had to refund all the money people sent him for the book he called The Lazy Man's Way to Riches.

The largest selling self-published book in the WORLD

He and Betty went to their cabin in the Lake Arrowhead area above Los Angeles with the kids and in only six weeks he wrote the book that has become an American Classic... The Lazy Man's Way to Riches.

Joe's ads for the "Lazy Man" ran for years in every major newspaper and magazine in the United States... and most large foreign papers as well. The ads themselves became famous. The ads were...and are still studied, examined, dissected, and used as models for direct response marketing and selling throughout the world. And of course, Joe was right. Before his death in 1980 he sold well over two million seven hundred copies (2,786,500 to be exact) by direct response ads.

Humanitarian

Joe was president of the Huntington Beach Chapter for the United Way and did various other charity and volunteer work.